Original Alien director Ridley Scott recently said showrunner Noah Hawley’s Alien upcoming TV series will “never be as good” as his 1979 movie, but Scott’s own recent works prove that is not necessarily true. The Alien franchise has been through many iterations since The Last Duel director Ridley Scott’s original “haunted house in space” sci-fi horror was released in 1979. As proven by the different visual styles of each Alien sequel, the series attempted numerous tonal and aesthetic revisions as a string of different directors put their spin on the franchise.
However, since the release of director James Cameron’s Aliens in 1986, the Alien franchise has never regained the critical acclaim that met the franchise’s first two movies. Alien 3 was deemed too dark and bleak by many critics and fans, while Alien: Resurrection was too strange and uneven to be universally well-liked. Scott returned to the Alien franchise for two prequel movies, Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, but neither could recapture the acclaim enjoyed by the original Alien.
As such, it hardly seems unreasonable that Scott would dismiss Noah Hawley’s upcoming Alien TV series as inferior to his original; however, much like director Neill Blomkamp’s comments on his canceled Alien 5, Scott’s joke is ironic given the recent fortunes of his big and small screen projects. Scott is rumored to have a role in the Alien TV show’s production (possibly as an executive producer), and his own recent history in terms of both box office and critical reception implies that the veteran director should have more faith in the potential of the forthcoming series.
Scott’s Alien Prequels Would Have Suited TV
Both of Scott’s Alien prequels were theatrical releases, but with vast, lore-heavy stories and uneven pacing, the director’s efforts would have been better suited to the small screen. Both the divisive Prometheus and the superior Alien prequel Alien: Covenant attempted to compress big, sprawling narratives into tight, tense sequels whose tone was true to the original Alien's claustrophobic horror. This resulted in overstuffed stories and overlong runtimes and made both Prometheus and Alien: Covenant uneven movies that jumped between epic storytelling and intense, single-location horror set-pieces. The prequels could, however, have worked better as a TV series, as Scott’s story would have had room to breathe and expand on its many potentially interesting subplots. Many of the biggest issues with Alien: Covenant, like Prometheus heroine Elizabeth Shaw dying offscreen between movies in one of the franchise’s biggest anticlimaxes, could have been solved by converting the plot to a miniseries format.
Turning the Alien prequels into a miniseries would have let Scott expand on the origins of the Engineers, an enigmatic alien race whose history is touched on but never properly explained by Prometheus. The format would also have given viewers more time to understand Michael Fassbender’s David, an instantly iconic anti-villain whose memorable character was poorly served by a frantic plot. David’s unclear motivations and his origins could have been better illustrated with more screen time, something the expansive nature of TV would have offered Scott’s story. As such, it is more than a little ironic to hear Scott claim that the upcoming Alien series will not beat his original movie when the director’s own prequels would have been better served by the miniseries format.
Alien’s TV Series Is Returning To The Franchise’s Roots
According to Hawley, his Alien TV series will focus on the rich investors who run Weyland-Yutani. Bringing Alien’s focus back to class warfare means Hawley’s series will revisit the satirical roots of Scott’s original Alien, and finally illustrating the people behind the nefarious corporation will let the Alien series ground its political commentary more than ever before. Although Scott’s original Alien introduced Weyland-Yutani, his more recent prequels essentially ignored the company beyond their function as a way to introduce the plot of Prometheus. This choice means Hawley’s series is ironically likely to be closer in tone to the original Alien than Scott’s own Alien prequels.
Depicting the uber-rich corporation’s willingness to sacrifice their employees to secure the Xenomorph as a bioweapon was the thread that tied the two most critically acclaimed Alien movies together. Although there was a definite tone and genre change between Alien and Aliens, both movies did depict Weyland-Yutani as the big picture villain of the Alien franchise while their less successful sequels dropped this theme. Scott’s Alien prequels failed to return to this idea and struggled with critics as a result, meaning Hawley’s Alien TV series may be the first followup since Cameron’s Aliens to stay true to the original overarching plot of the Alien franchise.
Scott Has Transitioned To TV, Too
Raised By Wolves was a huge success for Ridley Scott, proving that TV could be the best place for the director. Meanwhile, The Last Duel’s disastrous debut and the endless delay of his third Alien prequel prove that a move to TV could be good for Scott’s career. While The Last Duel, his upcoming Napoleon biopic, and Scott's planned Gladiator sequel prove the director has not given up on the multiplex, the fact that both Prometheus and Alien: Covenant failed to make much of an impression on Alien fans means that a format change could do the series some good. Alien: Covenant was a box office success but few viewers were enthused by the thought of a sequel to Scott’s Alien prequels, whereas Hawley’s TV series has the novelty factor of being the franchise’s first small-screen project.
Not only that, but the Alien franchise’s biggest competitor has also proven that the multiplex may not be the best avenue for R-rated sci-fi properties. While Westworld and Raised By Wolves have proven that television can produce high-quality, critically acclaimed sci-fi, the two failed Predator reboots (2010’s Predators and 2018’s The Predator) proved that cinema audiences are seemingly not as enthusiastic about sci-fi horror. As such, despite Scott’s misgivings about the show, the Alien TV series may be the best hope that the franchise has to bring back the acclaim heaped on Scott’s original Alien.